Lawsuit questions US Government sales of personal data

In a complaint filed in a Washington DC district court on Monday, EPIC argues that the Departments of Justice and Treasury have violated the law by failing to respond to a series of requests submitted by the privacy organisation under the US Freedom of Information Act. The requests sought records relating to "transactions, communications, and contracts" between law enforcement agencies and private firms that are engaged in the sale of personal information.

The information requests were submitted in response to news reports that ChoicePoint, a profiling company, routinely sells personal information to federal law enforcement agencies. The requests were filed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the US Marshals Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the Immigration and Nationalisation Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

"Through the mining of public records and the purchase of credit reporting data, private sector companies are amassing troves of personal information on citizens for the government," said EPIC attorney Chris Hoofnagle, who filed the court challenge. "Serious questions exist involving citizen access to profiles, their accuracy, and the potential for misuse of personal information."

Documents obtained by EPIC apparently show that ChoicePoint and another profiling company, Experian, sold the IRS credit header data, property records, state motor vehicle records, marriage and divorce data, and international asset location data. IRS employees have access to this personal data from their desktop computers. To facilitate the IRS account and access for other law enforcement agencies, ChoicePoint has created a federal government web portal at www.cpgov.com.

"ChoicePoint and Experian are selling profiles on citizens with little public awareness or oversight," said Hoofnagle. "We need to ask ourselves: who is watching the watchers?"